Gluten-Free Christmas Mince Pies

I'm always quite sentimental about enjoying my first mince pie of the festive season. I make a big pot of Earl Grey tea, I warm up the sugary little pies and then I sit down (we can't snuggle here in South Africa as it's freaking hot this time of year) and I have a 'moment'. Because I know that 'moment' marks the beginning of Christmas, for me anyway.  

These mince pies are not only for the gluten-intolerant (because an intolerance should not stand between you and that wonderful festive feeling) but they're also for the pastry-intolerant (definition: a baker with an inability to make pastry without suffering adverse affects). If you have a phobia for pastry, this ready should relieve some of your stress. Because it's gluten-free, you have no risk of over-working your pastry and developing gluten! It's basically a flop-proof shortcrust pastry. Genius right? Which means you get a crisp, short shell that everyone can make AND everyone can eat! 

If you're into taking shortcuts, then buy your fruit mince already made, otherwise, I've included my special recipe for a fruity homemade version which, placed in a pretty bottle, would make a beautiful festive season gift!

Gluten-free Christmas mince pies 

Makes 16

1 cup (150g) rice flour*

3/4 cup (90g) ground almonds

1/4 cup (35g) corn starch

1/4 cup (50g) castor sugar

½ tsp xantham gum*

125g cold butter, cut into 1cm cubes

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Iced water, if needed

300g fruit mince - or make your own with the recipe below

Egg wash, for brushing

Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease 2 x 12 hole non-stick muffin tins.
Place the rice flour, ground almonds, corn starch, castor sugar, xantham gum and butter in a food processor and blend until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and process until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough – adding ice water if necessary.
Wrap the dough in clingwrap and refrigerate until firm.
Roll out on a surface dusting with a little corn starch until 5mm thick, cut out 5cm discs to fit the muffin tin and press the discs into the muffin tin holes. Roll out the leftover pastry again and cut out stars or snowflakes for the tops. 
Fill each pastry case with fruit mince then place the pastry shapes on top.
Brush with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
Allow to cool in the tin completely before lifting out and dusting with icing sugar.

*Find xantham gum and rice flour at health stores or in the health aisle at large supermarkets.

Homemade fruit mince

1/2 cup cider

185ml brown sugar

500g Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and grated

1/2tsp mixed spice

½ tsp ground cinnamon

125g raisins

75g sultanas

75g dried cranberries

¼ cup mixed peel or chopped crystallized fruit

60g cherries

¼ cup pecan nuts, toasted

zest and juice of ½ orange

1 tbsp brandy

To make the fruit mince, heat the cider and brown sugar until dissolved.
Add all ingredients except the brandy and cook for 40 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed.
Stir in the brandy and pour into sterilized bottles while still hot. 
Make the pastry by creaming the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg, beating well to combine.

Add all the other ingredients and mix to form a stiff dough.
Press the dough into greased tart tins or disposable foil cases to form a thin layer. Dock the pastry with a fork.
Roll out the leftover pastry and cut out stars to fit the tops.
Spoon a teaspoonful of fruit mince into each pastry case then top with the pastry star.    Brush with the egg yolk, sprinkle with a little brown sugar and bake at 180C for 20 min or until the pastry is lightly golden and crispy.

MORE CHRISTMAS RECIPES HERE: 

• Christmas malva pudding
• Spiced butter Christmas biscuits
• Christmas mince pie macarons
• Festive milk tart
• Christmas hertzoggie mince pies

Chocorons & Christmas mince pie macarons

A few weeks ago my pastry chef/chocolatier extraordinaire of a boyfriend came home one day waxing lyrical about the World Chocolate Championships and how an entrant had included chocorons in his breathtaking sculpture. He said (in his thick Sicilian accent), 'just watch, chocorons are going to be the next cronut'. Ja, ja, I said and carried on paging through my Donna Hay. Well, I'm eating humble pie now as the chocoron explosion has hit the streets of Paris. Apparently invented by Japanese pastry guru Sadaharu Aoki (although boyfriend claims he dipped macarons way before this), the chocoron is a macaron coated in a thick layer of chocolate. Just pure genius.

Hybrid pastries seem to be gaining more and more momentum and with the inspiration of the chocoron fresh in my mind, I set out to create my own, and so, I give to you, the Christmas mince pie chocoron. 

These little babies taste exactly like mince pies and are just so festive. Cover a few in chocolate, pop them in a box and you have an uber trendy gift (but only keep the chocolate covered beauties for those who were good this year!). 

Mince pie chocorons

Makes 20

120g sifted finely ground almonds

200g sifted icing sugar

1 tsp ground mixed spice

100g egg whites (from about 3 eggs), at room temperature

35g castor sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

60g butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

¼ cup Amarula

Christmas fruit mince, to taste

Good-quality dark chocolate, for dipping

Line 2-3 baking sheets with silicone baking sheets. Sift together the ground almonds, icing sugar and mixed spice. Begin beating the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed. Once the egg whites are at soft peak stage, begin sprinkling in the sugar as you beat. Increase the speed to medium, if necessary, and beat the meringue to stiff glossy peaks. Add about 1/4 of the almond/sugar mixture and fold until no streaks remain. Continue to add the almond mixture in quarters, folding until incorporated. Pour the batter into a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle and pipe rows of batter onto the baking sheets in even sizes, giving them space to spread. Tap the pan on the counter to bring up any air bubbles and quickly pop them with a toothpick if necessary. Allow the cookies to rest on a level surface for 30-60 minutes until they are no longer tacky to the touch.  While they rest, place an oven rack in the lower 3rd of your oven and preheat to 130C (fan-forced) or 150C (no fan).  Bake the cookies for 16-20 minutes. Allow to cool. 

Make the buttercream by creaming the butter until light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and Amarula and whip until combined and a light consistency. Stir in enough fruit mince to your taste and place the icing in a piping bag. Assemble the macaroons by piping a blob of icing onto one macaroon and sandwiching with the other.  Once set, dip the macarons into chocolate using a fork, allow the chocolate to drip off before placing on a lined baking sheet to set. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a day before serving.

Festive milk tart & Hertzoggie mince pies

Working on a daily breakfast show on any given day, my colleague Zola and I churn out close to 5 recipes a day which amounts to about 25 recipes per week, 100 a month. That is a lot. And with that many recipes being developed, we sometimes have to get a little more creative (and sometimes - okay most times- we have some down right crazy ideas). This morning's show was all about 'Christmas with a South African twist' because although we love traditional dishes like mince pies and christmas cake, let's be honest, they're not our traditions but rather very European. Enter our local 'n lekker milk tart and hertzoggies. Zola had the genius idea of crumbling up Christmas cake and blending it into the pastry of milk tart; imagine all that fruity flavour stuffed into the crust with the creamy cinnamony smoothness of the milk filling. Yummo! I could eat a whole tart. But then I'd have no space for the pies. I loooove mince pies but sometimes the flavour of the filling can be overpowering and it just needs that something extra - enter the coconut meringue topping which I borrowed/stole (thank you Afrikaans tannies) from the humble hertzoggie. Our camera crew devoured them all with gusto and they're always our harshest critics. So, why not serve something traditional (because, let's face it, for some of us Christmas isn't Christmas without the fruit cake or mince pies) but with a local twist and let's start our own South African festive food traditions!

Photography by Günther Schubert of www.vorsprungstudio.com

Zola's Festive milk tart

Makes 2 tarts

Pastry:

125g butter, softened
½ cup castor sugar
1 egg
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup Christmas pudding, crumbled
Pinch of salt

Cream butter and sugar together and add the egg, beating well to combine.
Add all the other ingredients – to form a stiff dough.
Divide the dough into two, then press into 2 round sandwich cake tins.
Dock the pastry base then blind bake at 180C for 30 min or until the pastry is golden and crispy.

Filling:
4 ½ cups milk
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 ½ Tbs flour
2 ½ Tbs corn flour
1 tsp vanilla paste
Large Tbs butter
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Place milk, cinnamon stick and cloves into a pot and bring to the boil.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, flour, corn flour and vanilla.
Pour the boiling milk into the egg mixture, while continuously whisking.
Pour the mixture through sieve to remove the spices and return to the pot and cook on medium heat until the mixture thickens.
Add the spoonful of butter and stir through.
Pour into the baked pastry shell and sprinkle with the ground cinnamon.
Allow to cool completely cool at room temperature before storing in the fridge.

Photography by Günther Schubert of www.vorsprungstudio.com

Katelyn's Hertzoggie mince pies

Makes 30

210g cake flour

90g corn flour

100g icing sugar

pinch of salt

zest of 1 lemon

250g soft butter, in blocks

1 cup fruit mince

3 egg whites

1 cup castor sugar

2 cups coconut

Combine dry ingredients in a mixer and gradually add the butter until the shortbread comes together.

Press tablespoon fulls of dough into mini muffin tins. Using your finger, make a hole in the centre of each shortbread and fill with fruit mince.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peak stage then beat in the castor sugar until thick and glossy. Fold in the coconut and spoon small amounts on top of the fruit mince (just enough to cover).

Bake at 150˚C for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool in the tin before removing and dusting with icing sugar.